Ralph Lloyd and Dan MacKinnon Memorial Closing Spiel

The annual Closing Spiel, the Ralph Lloyd and Dan MacKinnon Memorial, was held at the club from April 8th to 12th. This, as always, is the last curling event for the season and was, again, another wonderful finish to another great year. Twelve teams in total took part in two divisions that saw curlers from both of these divisions face off on Saturday to see who would take the top honors. It was a close race this year with first and second place coming down to a point differential. The Peter MacIntyre rink and the Keith MacEachern rink were tied with 31 points at the end of play but MacIntyre edged into first place with a +11, narrowly defeating MacEachern who had a +7 differential. Joining skip MacIntyre in victory was mate Rick Windsor, second Lonnie Howe and lead Amanda Windsor. Skip MacEachern was aided in his second place finish by mate Sid Murray, second Frances Ford and lead Debbie Murray. Third and fourth place were also decided by a point differential when Gordie Cormier and Wayne "Bull" Bonnell each finished with 28 points. Bonnell shaded Cormier by the narrowest of margins, beating him out for third place in differential by a single point. Joining Bonnell was Todd MacAulay, Kelley Laughlin and Kenny Thomas. Cormier's rink included Amy MacPherson, Chris "Slugger" MacLeod and Gabby Drover. Full standings are below. After curling and prize presentations on Saturday there was a draw to the button contest. For a $5 entry fee you got your chance to draw one stone without the aid of sweepers to try and place it as close to the button as possible. A total of 24 participants took part but in the end it was veteran skip Wayne "Bull" Bonnell showing his skill and soft touch by drawing his stone to within inches of the center pin and besting all others to take home the prize money. Congratulations Bull. After that there was a dance with music provided by DJ Jimmy. The dance was very well attended by members and guests and a great time was had by all into the wee hours of the morning. It surely was a great end to a great season. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the closing. Thank you to Raylene Dejeet for bringing up the very delicious fudge, to bonspiel chair Kelley Laughlin for another great effort in organizing a successful spiel and to everyone else who helped out in any way as without the generous help of so many volunteers we would be unable to hold events such as this at the club. A special thanks goes out to the Sydney Curling Club Members who joined us for this spiel. It was great to have you curl with us and you are always welcome at the Schooner.So that brings us to an end of another curling season. The plant was turned off on Sunday to allow the ice to start to melt and the annual skating party was held which is the beginning of the end for the Schooner ice for the season. It was another great year at the Schooner and we certainly hope to see everyone back for another year in 2014-15. Have a great summer!!